CRUISIN’ to JAIL

PPP Scammer Bought a Bentley With $1.9 Million He Stole

“Leon Miles selfishly enriched himself by defrauding a program designed to alleviate the economic suffering caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” a federal prosecutor said.

Instead of speeding around in the Bentley he bought with his ill-gotten Paycheck Protection Program funds, Leon Miles will be riding in a police van to prison. Miles, a 53-year-old resident of Brooklyn, was sentenced to 72 months behind bars for stealing $1.9 million by submitting fake claims to the Paycheck Protection Program, created with CARES Act funding to alleviate small businesses’ economic stress from COVID-19 challenges. Prosecutors said Miles falsely claimed his company had more than a $762,000 monthly payroll with 50 employees. With the money, he bought a $250,000 Bentley Continental and a $100,000 2020 Cadillac Escalade. The court seized the cars—one of which was totaled—and the remaining $1.3 million. “Leon Miles indulged himself at the expense of U.S. taxpayers by both defrauding the Paycheck Protection Program and victimizing those business owners who legitimately needed the benefits,” IRS special agent Thomas M. Fattorusso said in a release. “Today’s sentencing is a fair response to Miles’s criminal behavior and he will now face justice behind bars.”